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Cable Internet – Troubleshooting Cable Modem Connection Issues

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Cable Internet access is more than just extremely fast. It’s also an extremely reliable way to connect to the Internet.

But connection issues do occasionally come up. The good news? Often you can quickly and easily troubleshoot and resolve the issue by looking at the cable Internet modem lights.

So, if you ever have problems connecting to the Internet, take a look at the cable modem lights and follow these recommendations.

Cable Modem Connection Light is Out

  • If the light on the front of your cable modem that indicates your cable connection (it may be labeled Status, Online or Cable) is out or blinking, you will be unable to connect to the Internet.
  • To re-establish your Internet connection, first make sure that the coaxial cable is firmly connected to the back of your modem.
  • If the cable is properly connected to your modem and the light is still out, try to reset the modem.
  • To reset your cable modem, press and hold the Reset button for five seconds. If your modem does not have a Reset button, you will need to power cycle (turn off, then on) your modem. See the complete steps for power cycling your modem below.

Cable Modem Power Light is Out

  • If your modem’s power light is off, make sure that the modem is securely plugged in. Your cable modem should be plugged in and powered on 24 hours a day.
  • If the modem appears to be securely plugged in and the power indicator light is still out, test the outlet or power strip your modem is using by plugging something else in. You can also plug the modem into another outlet and/or power strip that you know is in good working condition.
  • If you have confirmed that your outlet and/or power strip are working and the cable is securely connected to the modem, but the power indicator is still off, a service call may be required. Try power cycling your modem (using the steps below) before you contact Technical Support.

Cable Modem PC Light is Out

  • If the light on the back of your computer (next to the Ethernet cable connection) and/or the light labeled PC on your cable modem is out while your computer is on and your operating system loaded, your network card may not be functioning correctly.
  • To troubleshoot your cable modem connection, try the following:
  • Confirm that the Ethernet cable (which looks like a slightly enlarged phone cord) is securely plugged into both the cable modem and to the back of your computer. If the cable looks securely plugged in and the light on the back of your computer or your cable modem is still out, try unplugging the cable and plugging it back in to the back of the computer first and then the back of the cable modem.
  • Try running the diagnostic program that came with your network card, if available.
  • Reset your cable modem by pressing the reset button for five seconds or power cycle your modem using the steps below.
  • Shut down and then restart your computer.
  • If the above still does not solve the problem, please contact Technical Support.

Cable Modem Light is Blinking

  • If you are having problems receiving email or browsing the Web, you should verify that your cable Internet modem is successfully communicating with the broadband network.
  • Depending upon the type of modem you are using, the cable Internet connection indicator light on the front of your modem may be labeled as Status, Online or Cable.
  • If that light is blinking, you may need to reset your cable modem by pressing the Reset button for five seconds. If your modem does not have a Reset button, you will need to power cycle (turn off, then on) your modem (see detailed steps below).
  • If, after one or two minutes, the connection light on your cable modem continues to blink, a Technical Service call may be required.

Cable Modem Light is Orange

  • If the light on your cable modem labeled Status is orange, you will be unable to connect to the Internet. To re-establish your connection:
    1. Make sure that the coaxial cable is firmly connected to the back of your modem.
    2. If the light is still orange, try to reset your cable modem. To do so, unplug the modem and leave it unplugged for one minute.
    3. Plug the modem back in, and wait one or two minutes for it regain connection.
    4. If the light does not turn green, a Technical Service call may be required.

How to Power Cycle Your Cable Internet Modem

Windows Users

  1. Make sure the coaxial cable is plugged securely into your cable modem.
  2. Unplug the cable modem from the power source.
  3. Leave the modem unplugged for two minutes.
  4. Plug the cable modem directly into the wall outlet.
  5. Wait for the modem to regain block sync (this usually takes just one minute or less but may take up to five minutes).
  6. When your cable modem lights are illuminated and steady, try visiting at least two websites.
  7. If the lights on your cable modem are correctly illuminated but you can’t get on the Web, run winipcfg or ipconfig, verify that you have obtained a valid IP address and try release/renew.
  8. Try once more to access a couple of websites.
  9. If you still can’t connect to the Web, shut down your computer and turn off the power by pushing the On/Off button on your computer.
  10. Restore the power and turn your computer back on.
  11. Try connecting to the Web again.
  12. If your cable lights are properly illuminated and the steps above have failed to restore your connection, you will need to call Technical Support.

Mac Users

  1. Make sure the coaxial cable is plugged securely into your cable modem.
  2. Unplug the cable modem from the power source.
  3. Leave the modem unplugged for two minutes.
  4. Shut down the computer and turn it off.
  5. Plug the cable modem directly into the wall outlet.
  6. Wait for the modem to regain block sync (this usually takes just one minute or less but may take up to five minutes).
  7. Check the lights on your modem to ensure the cable lights are steady.
  8. If the lights are illuminated, try visiting various Web sites.
  9. If your cable lights are properly illuminated and the steps above have failed to restore your connection, you will need to call Technical Support.

 

Top 10 Dial-Up Connection Solutions

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If you’re using Dial-up Internet access to get online, it’s smart to keep a list of troubleshooting tips in case something ever goes wrong.

The good news is that most of the things that do go wrong are very easy to fix. Trust us —we’ve been helping our dial-up Internet members connect more reliably since way back in 1994.

So, if you ever can’t connect to the Internet, the dial-up Internet experts here at EarthLink recommend you try our top 10 dial-up solutions:

  • Top 10 dial-up Internet troubleshooting tipsWait a few minutes (really, that’s all)
    If you were recently connected to the Internet and haven’t changed anything, your dial-up connection may automatically reconnect depending on your configurations. So just give it a few minutes. If your dial-up connection does not recover after several attempts, you should move on to the next suggested solutions.
  • Restart your computer
    Turn off your computer; wait for 30 seconds; then turn it on and try your dial-up connection again. This super-simple solution is often all you need to do.
  • Check your phone line
    Dial-up Internet access requires an open phone line. So make sure no one in your home starting using your phone in another room. Unfortunately, you can’t browse the Internet and talk on the phone at the same time. (Also, check that a phone wasn’t left off the hook.)
  • Check all cords and cables
    Cords and cables sometimes get knocked out or loosened. So make sure your phone line is securely plugged into your computer or external modem (if you’re using one) and the phone jack in your wall.
  • Check for hardware problems
    If you have an external dial-up modem, make sure its lights are on or shows signs that it is plugged in and functioning. If you are using a surge protector, make sure that it is on (it’s pretty easy to accidently bump a surge protector and turn it off). Make sure that the outlet that you are using is working by plugging something else into it. Then try plugging your modem into another outlet. If it still shows no signs of it working, you may have to replace the modem.
  • Check our Network Outages page
    If you can get to the Internet from your smartphone, tablet, or a different computer, visit our Network Outages page at http://support.earthlink.net/contact/outages.php to see if there are known problems with our dial-up network. If there is an outage listed, you can be sure we’re working to get it resolved as soon as possible and you can check back for confirmation that it’s fixed.
  • Double check your email address and password
    Your email address and password are both case sensitive (so capitalization matters) and they need to be entered exactly for you to be able to connect. Mistyping passwords is one of the most common reason dial-up users fail to connect to the Internet. So ensure that your keyboard’s Caps Lock is off and retype your email address and password carefully.If you forgot your password (and can use another computer or device to connect to the Internet) you can reset it at https://myaccount.earthlink.net/cam/passmain.jsp.
    Important:  Your new password may take up to 20 minutes to activate in our system.
  • Update drivers and firmware
    Make sure that the drivers and firmware on your computer and modem are up-to-date. That process varies by computer and operating system, so check your computer’s help system if you don’t know how to do it.

 

How to Get EarthLink Email on Your Android Smartphone

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How to add EarthLink email to Android phone.If you have EarthLink high-speed or dial-up Internet access, you also get EarthLink email (up to 8 addresses with automatic spam and virus protection and other features).

Today we’ll show you how simple it is to use your EarthLink email on your Android phone.

At home, you may log on to Web Mail to get your email. On the go with an Android smartphone, you could also access the mobile version of Web Mail by going to https://m.webmail.earthlink.net/ with your phone’s web browser.

But it’s also easy to set up your Android’s built-in email app to use your EarthLink email.

Here’s a walk-through using the Samsung Galaxy S3 as an example (other Android phones will have similar steps and setting information but some details will be different). See our previous posts if you want to add EarthLink email to your iPhone or iPad.

  1. Locate the Email app on your Home screen (you may need to scroll if you don’t see it right away).
  2. Tap on the Email icon to open the email app.
  3. Press the options menu to the left of the Home button.
  4. Select Settings from the list that pops up.
  5. At the top of the Settings page, click the plus sign +.
  6. Under Choose an account to set up, tap Others.
  7. Enter your EarthLink email address and password (tap the Show password checkbox if you want to make sure you entered your password correctly.
  8. Tap the box next to Send email from this account by default if EarthLink will be your primary email account on the phone.
  9. Tap the Next button to have your phone attempt to add email server settings automatically (if that doesn’t work you may need to go back to this step and choose Manual setup).
  10. Confirm or change the default settings for how often you want to check for email, if you want to be notified, etc. Tap Next when you’re done.
  11. You should get a confirmation that your account is set up. You can now choose to give the account a name (otherwise it will just be listed as your email address) and choose how your name will be displayed on outgoing messages (if you don’t change it, your username will be displayed by default). Tap Next when you’re done.
  12. Tap Done with accounts at the bottom of the screen.

 Entering Email Settings Manually

  1. If step 9 above does not work to set up your phone automatically, you should choose Manual setup and then continue following these steps.
  2. Tap on POP3 account.
  3. Enter your full EarthLink email address as your User name and enter your email password.
  4. Enter pop.earthlink.net in the POP3 server field.
  5. In the Port field, enter 110.
  6. Tap on the Delete email from server field and choose When I delete from Inbox.
  7. Click Next to confirm your incoming server settings.
  8. Under SMTP server, enter smtpauth.earthlink.net.
  9. In the Port field, enter 587.
  10. Tab the Require sign-in box.
  11. Confirm your User name (should be your full email address) and password.
  12. Tap the Next button.
  13. Confirm or change the default settings for how often you want to check for email, if you want to be notified, etc. Tap Next when you’re done.
  14. You should get a confirmation that your account is set up. You can now choose to give the account a name (otherwise it will just be listed as your email address) and choose how your name will be displayed on outgoing messages (if you don’t change it, your username will be displayed by default). Tap Next when you’re done.
  15. Tap Done with accounts at the bottom of the screen.

How to Check Your Email on MyEarthLink.net

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A customizable MyEarthLink Start Page® is one of the many member benefits that you get with EarthLink Dial-Up, High Speed DSL, Freestanding DSL, Cable, or Satellite Internet access.

With news, sports scores, weather, stock quotes, shopping, and more, myEarthLink is a convenient and helpful place to start your web surfing every day.

Add your email account to your myEarthLink Start PageOne feature that makes it even more convenient is My Email.

As the name suggests, this feature lets you know when you have new EarthLink email and gives you easy access to Web Mail for full email access.

You can even add non-EarthLink email accounts such as Gmail and AOL Mail.

Here’s how to get started:

  1. Make sure the My Email feature is active on your Start Page. If you don’t see it, you probably need to add it from the Add a Feature section.
  2. Click the Sign In to My Email button.
  3. Enter your EarthLink email address and password, and choose how many message you want displayed on your Start Page (from 5 – 10).
  4. Check the box next to Show messages on myEarthLink.
  5. Check the box to Automatically Sign In to EarthLink Web Mail (unless other people will use your Start Page who you don’t want to have access to your email).
  6. Click the Save Changes button at the bottom.
  7. If that’s the only account you want to add, click the Done button. Otherwise, click the Add an Email Account link to add another account.

In most cases, setup is simple. But if you run into any trouble, click the Help link in the upper-right corner of the page.